The Top 6 Places to Taste the New Asian Fusion

I still remember the wasabi mashed potatoes. The year was 1993 and I was visiting New York City with my mother, eating at the inimitable Union Square Cafe. The slightly spicy, green-hued potatoes represented the big trend of the day—Asian fusion, a culinary movement defined by its East-meets-West mashup of ingredients and techniques. Union Square Cafe was never even an Asian fusion restaurant, but in the same way that a restaurant today must nod to sustainable ingredients, a restaurant menu in 1993 had to include soy, ginger, or wasabi. (Wolfgang Puck is credited with starting the culinary food style at his Chinois on Main in Santa Monica in 1983.) Before long, every chef was dumping sesame oil on this and infusing lemongrass with that—oftentimes with silly, overly sweet, and complicated results. Though the culinary trend appeared promising in the hands of a capable chef, it had jumped the shark.

By the late ’90s, Asian fusion had become a culinary punch line (not “fusion” but “confusion”). Well, guess what? It’s back! This time around, it’s less about gimmickry and more about cleverly combining traditional Japanese, Korean, and Chinese flavors with local ingredients. Prime examples: such now-legendary dishes as the kimchi quesadillas from Los Angeles food truck Kogi, and the roasted brussels sprouts with Benton’s bacon, apples, and bonito from New York’s Momofuku. Today’s chefs would never describe what they’re doing as Asian fusion (it’s a dirty word these days), but rather American cooking—a melting pot of culinary traditions, a fusion of global flavors. Here are some of today’s most deft practitioners.

Named after the largest Chinese market in Saigon, this LoDo district spot, with talented chef Lon Symensma at the helm, features creative riffs on Asian classics. What to order: soup dumplings with sweet onion and Gruyère. 1555 Blake Street; 303-353-5223; cholon.com

Chef Richard Hales mines the Korean pantry for his creative take on Asian-street-food-inspired dishes, including calamari with ssamjang, a spicy paste. What to order: popcorn shrimp ssäm. 3401 North Miami Avenue; 305-576-8096; sakayakitchen.com